Another dead bull

[Alan]

This is old news, I just read about it the other day, so new news to me. The Polled Hereford bull About Time died, he was a national champion and supreme bull in Denver a couple years ago. He had been used pretty heavily since. Online is gone, Patriot is gone, Moler is useless to name a few. What causes this type of stuff to happen? Is it that the bulls are pushed too hard as weanlings, worked to hard with travel and semen supply, or is simply a case of insurance? Or just dumb luck?

Also does this type of thing happen in other breeds? Does the Black Angus industry have mystery deaths of big time young bulls .... Or any other breed?

Thanks,
Alan

 

[ALACOWMAN]

stardom is tough on a body,, look what its done to Charlie Sheen... i guess when semen sales decline what better way to snap out of a lull then have a limited supply... plus the big ins, payoff

 

[Herefords.US]

Stifle!

 

[SRBeef]

Add Tundra to the list. I have a very nice Tundra heifer and was surprised to hear the bull died recently. He was only 7 years old. Here is a related quote from a semen sale:

Selling 5 units of Tundra 63N. Tundra 63N has become one of the most sought after bulls in the Hereford Breed. Now deceased, there is a very limited quantity of Tundra 63N semen left. His semen has sold for as high as $650 per straw in the May 2010 JWR production sale. In 2010 alone, Tundra 63N sired the Champion Pen of 3 Bulls in Denver, Grand Champion Polled Female in Denver, Grand Champion Polled Female at the Jr. Nationals in Indianapolis, Grand Champion Female at Kansas City and Grand Champion Polled Female in Reno. Don't be left out in the cold. Grab up this Tundra 63N semen while its a HOT commodity!

fwiw. Jim

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Stifle!

you first

 

[Herefords.US]

Stifle!

you first

It's RARE that I get a chance to do an Archie Bunker imitation anymore! :lol2:

According to another Hereford breeder, his Genex representative told him that About Time was out on pasture, hurt his Stifle, and they had to put him down.

Apologies for my obtuse sense of humor!

George

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Stifle!

you first

It's RARE that I get a chance to do an Archie Bunker imitation anymore! :lol2:

According to another Hereford breeder, his Genex representative told him that About Time was out on pasture, hurt his Stifle, and they had to put him down.

Apologies for my obtuse sense of humor!

George

:cowboy: sense of humor is what we need more of ,after all we're talking cattle,, not building nuclar plants ;-)

 

[3waycross]

Stifle!

you first

It's RARE that I get a chance to do an Archie Bunker imitation anymore! :lol2:

According to another Hereford breeder, his Genex representative told him that About Time was out on pasture, hurt his Stifle, and they had to put him down.

Apologies for my obtuse sense of humor!

George

Don't apologize George that was ACTUALLY funny. :tiphat:

 

[smnherf]

Maybe it is just divine intervention. :) :)

 

[Suzie Q]

A breeder I visited once, in my opinion has his bulls way too fat. He said when they are that big if they get hit on the side by another animal with their head they have to go to the abbatoir. They can't take it.

He also had a young bull that had to go as it was in the yard with another bull and when the young one was lying down the other bull tried to mount him and broke his pizzle.

 

[KNERSIE]

Stifle!

you first

It's RARE that I get a chance to do an Archie Bunker imitation anymore! :lol2:

According to another Hereford breeder, his Genex representative told him that About Time was out on pasture, hurt his Stifle, and they had to put him down.

Apologies for my obtuse sense of humor!

George

I know I'm tempting fate, bit I've never had or seen a stifle injury in a bull here.

 

[Alan]

I found that report on the Internet also, according to Genex he had a stifle injury in the pasture and died the next day. I'm curious if big time bulls having short life spans happens in most breeds.

Alan

 

[Herefords.US]

A serious reply to your question, Alan.

I think that the desire to get as much growth as possible out of these show bulls, plus the added effect of getting them fat and keeping them that way for an extended period of time, is VERY harmful to them in the long run.

In the "bull of the month" club, a bull has pretty well outlived his usefulness by 5 years of age anyway. He's old news by then, and it's on to the newest "bull of the month".

In my short time back in this business, I've owned 2 bulls that were shown at major shows until they were 3 years of age. I think both of them would have been sounder, more active bulls, for a much longer time, had they not been subjected to the kind of feeding regimen required to compete in the show ring ...and for the extended period of time they were on it.

George

 

[ALACOWMAN]

getting pushed hard on feed and I imagine those frequent ride's in a trailer are hard on the joints, and the standing for long periods i know horses pushed to hard always have leg and joint issues. my old rope horse ""retired"" moves around like a 90 year old man now ''arthritic'' and i never pushed him .... .........course alot of stops and jerks were the major cause

 

[Alan]

A serious reply to your question, Alan.

I think that the desire to get as much growth as possible out of these show bulls, plus the added effect of getting them fat and keeping them that way for an extended period of time, is VERY harmful to them in the long run.

In the "bull of the month" club, a bull has pretty well outlived his usefulness by 5 years of age anyway. He's old news by then, and it's on to the newest "bull of the month".

In my short time back in this business, I've owned 2 bulls that were shown at major shows until they were 3 years of age. I think both of them would have been sounder, more active bulls, for a much longer time, had they not been subjected to the kind of feeding regimen required to compete in the show ring ...and for the extended period of time they were on it.

George

Thanks George for the serious reply, I'm wondering if it is exactly that, the amount of feed, the demands of being a celeb semen bull, or frankly, when he gets to a point in his life with insurance and increased semen value he is worth more dead than alive.

Alan

 

[Herefords.US]

Thanks George for the serious reply, I'm wondering if it is exactly that, the amount of feed, the demands of being a celeb semen bull, or frankly, when he gets to a point in his life with insurance and increased semen value he is worth more dead than alive.

Alan

If you're insinuating that the bulls are "done in" to collect the insurance, I'm not going to say it NEVER happens, but I'd bet it doesn't happen very often. Most of these folks that own these bulls are pretty wealthy anyway - and I don't think they'd want their relatives spending all of it while they were passing time in jail.

I'd compare these show bulls to sumo wrestlers.

Here is what Wikipedia says about sumo wrestlers:

The negative effects of the sumo lifestyle become dangerously apparent later in life. Sumo wrestlers have a life expectancy of between 60 and 65, more than 10 years shorter than the average Japanese male. They often develop diabetes, high blood pressure, and are prone to heart attacks.

George

 

[Suzie Q]

and to add to what I said above. I prefer younger bulls so that I don't have to worry about them breaking my heifer's backs. I don't use AI.

 

[Alan]

If you're insinuating that the bulls are "done in" to collect the insurance, I'm not going to say it NEVER happens, but I'd bet it doesn't happen very often. Most of these folks that own these bulls are pretty wealthy anyway - and I don't think they'd want their relatives spending all of it while they were passing time in jail.

George

Well, I'll come out and say it, when someone has a "hot" bull and has a good enough store of semen, if that semen can jump from $25 or $50 a straw to between $500 and $1000 per straw it does make me think "hummm". Now with that being said, I'm sure the amount of feed poured to these show bulls can't be healthy, along with miles in the trailer and the stress of being a semen giving show stud ..... Much like myself :D . Okay back to being serious, just wondering?

Does this type of death happen in other breeds?

Alan

 

[Suzie Q]

The bulls I spoke about above were Bazadais.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

not that it matters i guess,, but ive used simmental bulls that weighed over a ton on brahman heifers never had a problem